Community 
Testimonies Bodhi Vincent
Testimonies Bodhi Vincent
Bodhi Vincent
"I had always felt somewhat judged by those behind the pallisades of convention. My own, rather erratic and at times dubious behaviour had taken on a certain mythic proportion within the gossiping culture surrounding me.
T
his resulted in feelings of paranoia sometimes, and the “brand” Bodhi was promulgated in a modest way, with goods and services of a creative nature disseminated far and wide as I made my way as a painter/sculptor with a wide range of related products and activities. I had been an edge dweller right from schooldays, through the hippie era, and later as an Osho neo-sanyasin. Trying to live a life drawn from this identity with its mismanaged image in the wider community had sculpted me into somewhat of a rebellious entity; this seemed to suit my purposes. Coming into contact with Sri YanchiGuruji who didn’t identify with his conditioned limited bodily-based self, and who seemed to have retained his untouched pure consciousnes prior to being overtaken by his familial and cultural upbringing, was a revelation to me. Here was a human, whose sense of self went way beyond the conventional body mind identity with its usual separate agenda of personal growth, and the self serving attitude that is common to other people I had met hitherto. I'd become accustomed to the rat race, so to speak. And here was one going in the opposite direction, or maybe standing utterly still in the midst of the scramble. I now have a template or way of being that I can aspire toward; not some cultivated demeanour, but a natural disposition that undermines the usual ego based way of being in the world, with its subtle ways of taking and giving.T
he I that my identity had rallied around for as long as 'I' can remember, was now under question. I saw Guruji radiant and overflowing with life and this made me feel the same way, the heart of life is revealed in his company, and it's the heart of all of us, when the “self” is abandoned and Consciousness overwhelms us. So, slowly, by degrees, I'm subjecting this “Bodhi entity” to the exquisite, sometimes painful process of rebirth in the company of an awakened one. ~